Marines propose Twentynine Palms expansion

The Marine Corps’ warfare training center in the desert community of Twentynine Palms could undergo a significant expansion if the Navy Department and Congress approve a plan presented in an environmental study released last month.

The Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center would add two pieces of land that roughly equal the size of Camp Pendleton so it can hold large-scale exercises at the base. Twentynine Palms is already the top live-fire base for the Marine Corps, but the expansion would increase its hosting capabilities.

The Corps wants to be able to train an entire Marine Expeditionary Brigade at the base. A Marine Expeditionary Brigade consists of about 15,000 troops plus equipment, weapons systems and aircraft.

“The training we do now, we support larger exercises, but our primary bread-and-butter is training Marines for combat deployment,” said Capt. Nick Mannweiler, spokesman for the Twentynine Palms combat center. “While we have played a very important role in training Marines for the last decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade training exercise isn’t geared toward those battlefields.”

Plans for the proposed expansion began nearly four years ago when a notice of intent to prepare the environmental study was posted in October 2008. A 30-day public comment period on the study began July 27, and when it’s over, the Department of the Navy must decide whether it wants to transfer the land from the Department of the Interior to the Defense Department, Mannweiler said.

From there, Congress must approve the land transfer.

Of the six plans studied, the Marine Corps opted to push one in which it annexes 167,971 acres of federal, nonfederal and state land. Of that, 146,667 acres would be added from the west of the facility, and 21,304 acres would be taken from the south.

The additional grounds would enable the Marine Corps to stage two 24-day Marine Expeditionary Brigade exercises, the report says.

The Marine Corps hopes it can commence training in the expanded zones as early as 2014 and begin large-scale Marine Expeditionary Brigade exercises in 2015, Mannweiler said.

“The Marine Corps needs the proposed action because existing facilities, ranges and live-fire ground and air maneuver areas are inadequate to support the requirement for MEB-sized training exercises,” the environmental report reads.

“The proposed action is needed to resolve training range deficiencies so that MEB training can be accommodated in accordance with the 2006 Marine Requirements Oversight Council decision and the predeployment readiness directives … and so that Marines are able to train as they will fight.”

Although Twentynine Palms is the largest base in the Marine Corps, its terrain restrictions — such as mountain ranges and biologically sensitive sites — limit how large-scale units can train, Mannweiler said. In order to train a Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the Corps would need to operate three battalions, simultaneously maneuvering for 48 to 72 hours with combined live fire and the accompanying air space, he said.

“We currently don’t have a way to train an MEB the way the Marine Corps operates,” Mannweiler said.

The biggest loser in the expansion plan would be off-road enthusiasts. The Johnson Valley off-road recreation area would lose 57 percent of its available space, the report states. However, the public could still use part of the land west of the base for 10 months of the year when the large-scale exercises aren’t performed.

The military would use non-dud-producing ordnance in those areas during exercises, so it would be safe for the public to return, Mannweiler said.